Europe - UNEP

Hydroelectric power plant on the Sava River at Moste in Slovenia. Photo credit: Ziga Koselj, Slovenia, via Wikimedia Commons.
Lake Dorjran. Within the same region, a history of
conflict exists between Greece and Bulgaria
regarding the Nestos Basin. Despite the adoption
of a basin-wide agreement in 1995, cross-border
pollution problems continue. In recent years,
Greek citizens have repeatedly complained to
Bulgarian authorities about industrial and
domestic waste that has been dumped upstream,
at the cost of downstream uses of the basin
(Athens News Agency, 2004). Both countries have
agreed to engage in closer cooperation to stop
the pollution of the Nestos basin, especially given
that Bulgaria recently became a part of the EU
and it now has an obligation to meet the
environmental obligations of EU law (Athens
News Agency, 2005).
The proposed construction of the
Gabcikovo-Nagymaros Dam System in the
Danube River basin has been a major source of
tension between Hungary and the Slovak
Republic. The two countries agreed to the crossborder
system of dams in 1977 as a means of
supplying much needed hydropower and
regulation of flood events. A growing
environmental movement forced the Hungarian
government to suspend works on the dam system
in 1989, which in turn led former Czechoslovakia
to adopt a unilateral dam system. After protracted
negotiations and third-party intervention by the
European Commission, the dispute was taken to
the International Court of Justice. In 1997, the
court decided that Hungary had violated
international law by abandoning the 1977
bilateral agreement; however, at the same time it
found that Slovakia was wrong in going ahead
with an alternative system. The countries were
then requested to reach a compromise solution
based on the court’s decision. Despite patchy
talks, no mutually agreeable decision has yet
been reached.
Drava River, at Drávaszabolcs, Hungary. Photo credit: Spinsta, via
Wikimedia Commons.
Chapter 3. The Evolution of Conflict and Cooperation over Europe’s Transboundary Waters — 39